


Unrequited

by orphan_account



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-05 05:42:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11571537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After the Squip, Rich is an incredibly confident person, but Jake feels left behind by his newfound pride. Rich and Michael start dating, but Jake is upset because of his history with Rich. In order to make Rich jealous, Jake attempts to start to date Jeremy, but things don't go as planned.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> hi! so i guess this is my fic?! i'm planning on updating every saturday so keep an eye out for updates! not currently sure how long this will be but i'm going to try it make slow burn ish? anyways, enjoy!! i would love it if you commented or gave kudos!

It was two weeks since Rich left the hospital. He had officially realized his bisexuality two days into his three week hospital stay, so he had been “out” for just over a month, and made sure every single person at Middle Borough High School was aware of it. First day back, Rich was all decked out in bi gear, attended the Gay Straight Alliance, and even wore a bi flag he ordered off of Amazon as a cape.

In addition to his new found queerness, Rich also acted a little different than his Squipped self. He was actually less disruptive in class, completely abandoned being a bully, much to various nerd’s delight, talked with a lisp, and even started to wear his old and abandoned glasses every once and awhile. Rich was a completely new person. He was happy, the happiest he had been throughout all of high school, even if he did burn down his best friend’s house and had burns all over his body. 

Basically, everyone at school loved post-Squip Rich. Well, most everyone liked Rich with a Squip, except for the nerds. The only person who wasn’t the biggest fan of post-Squip Rich was his best friend, Jake Dillinger. 

Jake loved Rich a whole lot. They were still friends. Jake just felt angry. Rich was so happy every single day. A huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders after the fire. Rich was carefree and wasn’t ashamed of who he was. He loved to show off his burn scars (“They’re sick, guys!”) and shout about how much he was attracted to both the opposite gender and the same gender (“I like my men like I like my women. Get it?! Because I’m bisexual!!). It truly did bother Jake, and he felt horrible about it. It’s not like he didn’t know that Rich was at least a little queer, it was just the amount of pride that came with his coming out. He wished it could be like it used to be. Two closeted guys being scared of the world around them. Now, it’s one closeted guy and another who seems like he’d never seen a closet in his life. 

Jake and Rich were still fairly close, however. They hung out together on the weekends, but after the Squip, Rich became close with the others who were involved and started to hang out with them more often. This included Brooke, Jeremy, Jenna, and Jake’s exes, Christine and Chloe. Jake really didn’t have feelings for those two anymore, it didn’t feel like there was much of a connection in the time period they were dating. Michael was also thrown in there somehow, as he and Jeremy were a two-for-one kind of thing. He remembered when he and Rich were like the two of them. 

“Have you ever done anything with a guy before?” Jake blurted. They were sat in Jake’s basement watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Rich’s favorite, when Jake paused and asked the very out-of-the-blue question. Rich seemed extremely off put by the question and he froze up as soon as Jake asked. 

“Well, who hasn’t thought-” Rich suddenly paused and jolted like he was being electrified. “N-no man. That-that-that’s gay,” He stated very monotonously, but still tripping over his words. Jake never heard Rich talk that way. It sounded like he had just seen a puppy die. Why was he so shaken? “Why, have you?” Rich asked Jake, a little too casually, but extremely nervous at the same time.

“I mean…” Jake mumbled. If he felt brave enough to ask that question, he had to be brave enough to answer it as well. “I’ve definitely thought about it…” Rich mumbled something incoherent under his breath. Almost like a command, he became more relaxed and responded. 

“Yeah, I have,” Rich stated, refuting his answer from a moment earlier. “Freshman year.”

“Oh, um, with who?” Jake asked. Jake couldn’t describe what he felt when Rich said yes. It couldn’t have been jealousy, but he definitely felt something bubble up in his stomach.

“I didn’t go to Middle Borough freshman year, so, you wouldn’t know him.” Rich laughed. It didn’t sound like his normal laugh. Rich was right. Jake didn’t meet Rich until sophomore year, right after he transferred from the neighboring high school.

“Oh, yeah,” Jake laughed just as fake as Rich did seconds prior. “Not to be weird but… What did you do with him?” 

“Um… we kissed a little? It was… nith,” Rich said nervously with a lisp. Rich never had a lisp prior to this, but it made him feel that much more real. Jake moved closer to Rich. 

“Would you,” Jake’s voice began to quiver. “Ever do it again?” Jake said, looking Rich in the eyes. His eyes were a dark, warm brown with gold flecks in them. He moved his face towards Rich and turned his head to the side, getting closer and closer to Rich. Right before their lips touched, Rich abruptly and almost electronically jolted and loudly yelped “Ha! Gay!” He started to laugh hysterically as he took his phone out of his pocket. 

"Please don’t tell anyone,” Jake quickly stood up, grabbed Rich’s phone and walked away. “I can’t let anyone know. Chloe can’t know, no one on the archery team can know, and Jenna Rolan sure as hell can’t know,” Jake felt the tears well into his eyes. “You’re my best friend,” he said quietly. “I can’t lose you too.” No one could know, Jake thought to himself. No one on the lacrosse team, archery team, speech and debate, absolutely no one could know his feelings for boys. No one. Rich stood quietly for what felt like years to Jake, contemplating what to say. 

“Fine,” Rich swallowed. “I won’t say anything if you don’t say anything about my freshman year,” Rich said coldly. Jake caught his breath.

“It’s a deal.”

Needless to say, Jake was very jealous once Rich started to date Michael on that two week mark out of the hospital.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Jeremy start dating in order to make Rich and Michael jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here!!! I really really hope you enjoy it and if you do it would mean the world to me if you commented and left kudos! Next update will be on the 5th!! Enjoy!!!!!

Even though they had only been dating for a week, Rich and Michael quickly became very physical with each other. They were the kind of couple to make out in the hallways whenever they could with each other’s tongues down their throats. Needless to say, it was a little gross. However, both Michael and Rich had never felt better. Michael had a boyfriend, his first since freshman year, so he had all sorts of affection pent up. And Rich, although he’d been with girls in the past, he finally could do everything he wanted to do guys. 

“So,” Jeremy plopped down next to Jake who was sat alone, a table away from Michael and Rich, who were making out, unsurprisingly. “How does it feel to have your best friend whisked away by my best friend?”

“Shitty,” Jake mumbled through his mouthful of peanut butter and jelly. “How ‘bout you?”

“The same,” Jeremy muttered to himself. “I’m glad they’re happy and all but at what cost?” Jeremy joked.

“Our lunches,” Jake quipped back. Jeremy snickered. Jeremy had a nice laugh. Truly, he had a really loud laugh, but always stifled it. Unless he was drunk. Whenever Jeremy drank, which wasn’t that often unless Michael was involved, he would get really loud really fast. He would also get really starry-eyed and always offer to braid someone’s hair, even if there wasn’t anyone whose hair could really be braided. 

“Jeremy, I know that you’re definitely a little gay, but like how gay are you?” Jake asked randomly. 

“Uhm…” Jeremy sputtered. “W-Well Michael and Rich told me about being bi and stuff and that’s kinda cool I guess…” Jeremy spoke quietly, making sure no one around him was listening. 

“Cool, great,” Jake said, thoughts running fast through his head. “Kiss me.”

“What?” Jeremy stammered. Jake immediately saw fear and anxiety in his eyes. Jake knew he made a mistake. He saw how Jeremy would look at Michael, and he was especially unsubtle in the past week that Michael and Rich had been dating. Jake didn’t think that Jeremy could actually be with anyone besides Michael. He had been too abrupt, but he still needed to find a way to make Rich jealous. 

“I’m sorry,” Jake apologized as soon as he realized what he made Jeremy feel. Jake couldn’t deal with people who treated him the way he treated Jeremy just then. Jake had people in his past, mainly his parents, who would demand him to do things he would never want to do however, it was never anything like what Jake asked Jeremy to do. Except for maybe Chloe. To Jake, she wasn’t so much of a “bad” person as she was just controlling. She would insist on Jake always giving her all the affection in the world, even when he wasn’t really up for it. He’d felt exactly what Jeremy felt. “I’m really, really sorry Jeremy.” Whenever Jake realized he’d done something wrong, he would apologize profusely. 

“Yeah, uh, it’s cool,” Jeremy said, adjusting himself in his seat. “You’re just, like, not my type, I guess”

“Wow, Heere,” Jake chuckled. “I’m not Michael, but I thought you’d at least be open to it,” 

“Yeah…” Jeremy murmured, looking over at Michael. Jake recognized the look in Jeremy’s eyes. The look of loss, jealousy, and love all in one. “I thought things would get better after the Squip, but somehow they just got worse.”

“I know how you feel,” Jake exhaled. Rich was sat on Michael’s lap, sort of grinding on him. Administration was seconds away from tearing them apart. “I’m sorry I told you to kiss me.”

“Stop apologizing, dude! It’s okay,” Jeremy laughed, putting his head in his hands.

“Sorry…” Jake repeated himself for the fourth time. “But I do have an idea. Can you meet me in the hallway you and Michael usually hang out in after school?”

“The makeout hall?” Jeremy’s voice squeaked.

“Yeah, the one where you and Michael would platonically stare into each other's eyes,” Jake nudged Jeremy. “I’ll see you there, homeslice.” Jake grinned and left for class. 

-

When Jeremy showed up in the designated makeout hall after last period, he looked just as nervous as he did at lunch, if not worse.

“Jake, I really don’t know what your plan is but I don’t know if I want to do it and I was too scared to text you because I thought ‘Oh, Jakes’s busy in class, he’s a busy dude and he won’t want me to bother him’ so I didn’t and-”

“Jeremy, stop,” Jake put his hand on Jeremy’s arm in an attempt to stop his verbal stumbling. He tensed up and looked at the ground. “Ok, Jer, listen. My plan is to like, be flirty with each other and make them jealous.”

“I don’t know how I feel about making Michael feel bad,” Jeremy said. “I made him feel bad enough in the past few months. We’ve finally been getting better,” Jeremy looked into the fairly full hallway. At the other end of the hall were Michael and Rich. Surprisingly, they weren’t making out, but Rich was sitting in Michael’s lap, his headphones on his small head, but the left ear was on the right ear and vice versa. He was bobbing his head along to some song playing on the headphones. Michael beamed and planted a kiss on Rich’s forehead, right under the red streak in his hair. Jeremy shakily inhaled as he saw the life he wanted to lead being lived out by Rich. 

“Yeah, okay,” Jeremy said, the usual twinkle eyes completely gone. 

“Great!” Jake grinned. “I’m going to hold your hand, is that alright?” Jeremy acceded silently and the two of them traveled down the hall filled with couples. 

As they approached Rich and Michael, Jake randomly started to crack up. 

“Jer, babe, you are so funny!” Jake looked over at Jeremy, who looked like a complete and utter pool of anxiety and homosexual dreams. As they walked past, Rich was still bopping along to Michael’s headphones, but Michael saw. But with the way they were walking made it so Michael could only see Jeremy’s face. They made eye contact as Jeremy made his antsy and gay pining face and Michael instantly knew something was wrong.

“Hey! Jake, Jeremy, come sit,” Michael smiled warmly. So they did. There they were. One real couple and one fake couple fabricated in order to break the real couple up. Rich was still in Michael’s lap and Jeremy and Jake were awkwardly sprawled like how they thought a couple should.

“So, uh, how long has this all been going on?” Michael asked, obviously a bit bewildered by what was happening. 

“Well, you know, with you guys being together we started to hang out more and saw something there,” Jake smiled. He was a surprisingly good actor, but refused to try out for theater anything after the Squip and A Midsummer Nightmare about Zombies. Rich was still bobbing his head along to whatever what was playing on his headphones. “What are you listening to, Rich?”

“Hmm?” Rich, said, taking one headphone off of his ears. “Oh, thome muthic Michael found for me! He made me a whole playlith and everything.” Rich with a lisp sounded so much more authentic and genuine than without. 

“Isn’t that great,” Jake said, looking around at the other couples. Jake and Jeremy and Michael and Rich seemed to be the only couple out of the dozen or so that weren’t currently all over each other. Jake looked over to Jeremy, who seemed to be a little less stressed. Not completely stress free, as this is Jeremy, but lessened. Jake moved over and kissed his fictitious boyfriend right on the nose. As soon as it happened, Jeremy immediately turned completely beet red and stood up awkwardly like a baby deer. 

“I have to go,” Jeremy said apprehensively as he clumsily picked up his red backpack, still with Rich’s “BOYF” thick black Sharpie graffiti and ran off. 

“I guess I’m going too,” Jake watched as Jeremy walked away quickly. “See you guys later.” Jake smiled at Rich and Michael as he followed Jeremy. 

“Well,” Rich said, directing his attention back to his boyfriend. “That was weird. I give them a week,” He smiled and kissed Michael on the cheek as he nostalgically looked down the hall at Jeremy and Jake.


End file.
